The England defender will face scorching temperatures and torturous humidity in Brazil’s most difficult World Cup venue.

Cahill has been training in extra layers, been to Portugal and Miami to prepare and yet is confident England will come through their toughest test tomorrow.

He said: “Yeah, I asked them about it. They have said it will be very humid but we knew that so that’s why we’ve done all the training. We’ve prepared the best we possibly can to face these conditions.

“They told me what it’s like but until you go there and see it for yourself, see the climate and see the pitch and everything else, then you don’t really know.

“It’s just something you have to deal with, you have to accept and it’s the same for both teams.

“The hardest thing is the feeling of being uncomfortable in that heat. The first couple of times we trained with all the layers on it was tough.

“Straight away we felt that whereas at a normal session you wouldn’t feel as tired it did make you feel uncomfy.

“When we trained in Rio we felt a lot better. So it’s obviously worked. But we’ll adapt. We’re both in the same position so we’ll just crack on.

“We had lots of layers on in Portugal at that training camp. We had bottoms, jumper, rain jacket, t-shirts, shorts – we had the full Monty on. But when we got over here we’ve taken the layers down.

“We’ve done all we possibly can. It’s hard for English players. We’re not used to this climate but we’ve done all we can do, we’ve been training now playing in hot conditions.

“Miami was roasting for the game there and there was the humidity, even when we’re training. We’ve done the heat chambers, we’ve done the extra layers of clothing, so we’ve done all we possibly can going into the game.

“We feel like we’ve prepared the best we can.”

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Cahill will be playing with trepidation in Manaus but feels at home in the heart of England’s defence as his partnership with Phil Jagielka has become the backbone of the team.

Cahill has won 24 caps now and appears to be ready to take on the mantle and follow in the footsteps of Chelsea team-mate John Terry and become a fixture in the heart of England’s defence.

Cahill will have his work cut out facing ex-Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli. But he says the AC Milan star is unpredictable as well as brilliant.

He said: “He’s a little bit of a tricky customer. I’ve seen him have great games, seen him come off after 60 minutes, everyone knows that he’s unpredictable.

“I do feel accepted at this level which is pleasing. That’s not to say there’s any sort of complacency in my game whatsoever.

“There are still people coming up behind and youngsters who are top players.

“I still want to go on and achieve as much as I can in my career so there’s no complacency in my part whatsoever.

“I feel accepted at this level which is pleasing for me for what I’ve done in the last couple of years.

“You have to have goals. There are certainly goals I set myself to help me achieve what I want to achieve.

“You try in whatever you do to get an opportunity, try to take it and try to build on it and progress from there. I want to keep progressing at international level.

“I’ve learned a lot from John Terry. I’ve taken things from his leadership, mainly reading the game and positional sense.

“They are probably the most important things in my game that I’ve taken from him.

“There have been some top-quality centre-backs for England haven’t there?

“I’m looking to do as well as possible. I’m always looking to build on my game every time I go out to play. So it’s no different.”